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A greater focus on customer service in the telecommunications industry appears to be paying off, as annual figures from the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman show complaints fell to five-year lows in the last year, but gripes about problems with internet access rose notably.

The overall numbers released showed complaints to the watchdog fell by 18.1 per cent in 2012-2013, with 158,652 received. There was a drop of 31,000 or 25.6 per cent, in the number of complaints received about mobile phones.

On a positive note for the industry, the numbers showed billing and payment issues, customer service complaints and overall fault concerns all reduced in 2012-13.

Victorian residents are most likely to make an official complaint about their telecommunications services. The TIO report shows 41,542 or 7.8 residents per 1000, lodged reports last year. However, the most troublesome postcode was Parramatta in western Sydney. The TIO said 21 out of every 1000 Paramatta residents had complained, only just pipping complaints from Melbourne’s CBD.

In a sign of the declining use of landlines and the ubiquity of smartphones, mobile phone complaints accounted for 57 per cent of new TIO complaints.

A TIO statement said landline complaints fell 9.3 per cent to 33,940, while internet complaints increased marginally, by 1.9 per cent to 31,431.

‘Clear commitment from telcos’

However, it was not all good news, as complaints about internet faults were up 18.3 per cent to 18,963 and landline faults were up 19.1 per cent to 9553. In a sign of the growing impatience of consumers for slow telco turnaround times, complaints about delays in new internet connections were up 58 per cent to 4710 and similar complaints about new landline connections were up 40 per cent to 3743.

Ombudsman Simon Cohen said it was the second successive year that telco complaints had decreased, and that dissatisfied consumers were at their lowest level since 2008-09.

“A clear commitment from telcos to do better by their customers, an improved industry code and a focus on compliance are paying dividends,” Mr Cohen said.

He said the decrease in complaints was particularly impressive as it came as its internal metrics showed consumer awareness of the TIO’s existence had increased by 58 per cent during the year.

Concerns related to poor mobile reception, voice quality and dropped calls remained the main reason people complained about their mobile service providers. However, complaints in these areas also dropped this year, by 13.5 per cent to 25,770.

Chief executive of Australia’s leading telecommunications consumer advocate body the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, Teresa Corbin said it was too early for the sector to congratulate itself and that the improved numbers must be the start of further change.

She said the drop in number of complaints was coming off record highs, and that complaints were still significantly higher in the telco sector than in banking and finance.

“Complaint figures are starting to go from the stratosphere back down to Earth but there is still significant room for improvement,” Ms Corbin said.

“Fixing mobile coverage issues should be a priority as this continues to be the top issue in all of the top 10 complaints postcodes. Additionally, it is concerning that more than half of the new consumer disputes included a customer service complaint about issues such as broken promises or wrong advice.”

She said ACCAN was concerned about the number of simple complaints that still needed to be referred to the ombusdman before telcos fixed them.

“Even though complaints are coming down, it is clear providers are still having issues with basic customer service,” she said.

Chief executive of the telco industry body the Communications Alliance, John Stanton welcomed the drop in complaints and observed that it had come during the first 10 months of operation of the new Communications Alliance Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code.

Mr Stanton said the improved climate bore testimony to the telco industry’s commitment to improved service and its compliance with the code.

“These are welcome results, but telecommunications providers acknowledge there is more work to be done and are determined to drive customer satisfaction higher and complaint volumes lower over the coming year,” Mr Stanton said.